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Purpose To assess the impact of workplace-based return-to-work (RTW) Coordinators’ interpersonal and functional activities on RTW outcomes. Methods Multivariable logistic regression analyses of cross-sectional and longitudinal survey responses of 632 injured workers with at least 10 days of work absence in Victoria, Australia, adjusting for demographic and other workplace factors. Outcome was being back at work for at least 1 month, measured at both baseline and 6 month follow-up survey. Participant responses to stressfulness of Coordinator interactions were dichotomised into good and poor and evaluated as a proxy for Coordinators’ interpersonal activities, while having a RTW plan was evaluated as a proxy for functional activities. Results At baseline, RTW plans doubled the odds of RTW (OR 2.02; 95% CI 1.40-2.90) and attenuated the impact of good Coordinator interactions (1.14; 0.77-1.70). At 6-month follow-up, the opposite was observed: good interactions nearly doubled odds of RTW (1.90; 1.22-2.95) while RTW plans were non-significant (1.02; 0.68-1.54). Conclusions Differences between when the two Coordinator activities were effective may be due to the nature of claimants who RTW in each survey period. Length of shorter-duration claims are influenced by injury related factors, while psychosocial factors tend to be more important for longer-duration claims. Such factors may determine whether a claimant is more likely to respond to Coordinators’ functional or interpersonal activities. The findings have important implications for increasing Coordinator effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Although road traffic injury is reported as the leading cause of work-related death in Australia, it is not clear, due to limitations in previous methods used, just how large a burden it is. Many organisations are unaware of the extent of work-related road traffic injury and, importantly, what can be done to reduce the burden. The proposed research will (i) estimate the prevalence of work-related road traffic injury and (ii) identify the organisational determinants associated with work-related road traffic injury. Methods and design The current study is designed to enumerate the problem and identify the individual driver-level, the supervisor-level and organisational-level factors associated with work-related road traffic injury. The multilevel systems protocol will involve a series of cross-sectional surveys administered to drivers of fleet vehicles (n=1200), supervisors of the drivers (n=1200) and senior managers (n=300) within the same organisation. Discussion The novel use of the multilevel systems protocol is critical to be able to accurately assess the specific determinants of driving safety within each context of an organisation. Results The results are expected to highlight that reducing injury in the workplace requires more than just individual compliance with safety procedures. It will also establish, for the first time, an occupational translation taskforce to ensure that the research findings are adopted into work-place practice and thereby directly contribute to reductions in work-related road traffic injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]